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New Gallery Elevates the Bowery

By

Julie V. Iovine

Updated Sept. 28, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

Elevators can't muster the cachet of a staircase, especially in spaces devoted to art. The majesty of the Metropolitan Museum of Art depends on its grand stair. The so-called Bauhaus staircase at the Museum of Modern Art of 1939 was so beloved that it was returned to prominence in the museum's 2004 expansion. Elevators just move people up and down.

But that did not stop British architect Norman Foster from making an elevator the key event in the new building he designed for the Sperone Westwater gallery that opened last week...